It's been a matter of debate for Doctor Who fans for decades: where does Peter Cushing's version fit in? Now, we might finally have an answer.
For those of you not in the know, Cushing starred in two Doctor Who movies in the 1960s: Dr. Who and the Daleks (1965) and Daleks – Invasion Earth: 2150 A.D. (1966).
The films were remakes of stories from the television series and reinvented the alien Doctor as a human scientist who travelled through time and space in "Tardis" - a self-made craft.
And, yes, his name actually was "Dr. Who".
Given these huge deviations from the TV show's official canon, it's been difficult to place the Cushing movies within Who mythology... until now.
In his new novelisation of Doctor Who's 50th anniversary special 'The Day of the Doctor', Steven Moffat reveals that the films exist in the Whoniverse as actual movies, with Cushing starring in big-screen adventures adapted from the Doctor's "real" exploits.
"Seen them? [The Doctor] loves them," UNIT's Kate Stewart tells Clara in a specially-written scene. "He loaned Peter Cushing a waistcoat for the second one, they were great friends."
Moffat had previously wanted to incorporate this idea into the TV version of 'The Day of the Doctor', with plans for UNIT's Black Archive to include posters for the Cushing films.
"In my head, in the Doctor's universe, those films exist as distorted accounts of his adventures," Moffat told Doctor Who Magazine. "Sadly, we couldn't afford the rights to the posters."
No such issues when it comes to rewriting 'The Day of the Doctor' for the printed page!
Steven Moffat's 'The Day of the Doctor' novelisation is out now from BBC Books.
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